"Shut Off" Problem
I have had such great luck with my notebook until the last two months or so, I don't know why all the problems have come at once. I have had great difficulty describing this problem so far (and have wasted 2 hours on the phone with Dell) so let me do my best and if there is more information I can submit perhaps you all can help me figure out what questions to ask.
THE SYSTEM:
I have a Dell Inspiron 8600, Pentium M 1.8 Ghz Processor. I got it in 2004. Recently (March) they replaced the screen,. I also got a new battery for it (also around March).
THE PROBLEM
Since late March or so, with increasing frequency,my computer will sometimes just sortof 'shut off.' What I mean by this (and this is what i've had trouble describing) is that the screen will go black (as if to a screensaver or power-saving mode) but moving the touchpad, pressing keys on the keyboard, or even specific key combinations (i.e. CTRL-ALT-DELETE) do nothing.
It happened earlier today when I was talking with a friend over IM. I tried typing a message after it went blank to ask my friend if he saw anything and he did not.
So I’m pretty sure it’s more than a screen thing.
When the screen goes off, it still makes some noise (fan or processor I’m not sure.) and the indicator lights stay on (two on the keyboard and two on the hinge, for those familiar w/ how the 8600 is laid out.)
It always requires a complete power-off and restart to get it working again.
It seems to be CORRELATED with moving the computer itself. When on the phone w/ dell yesterday it ‘shut off’ predictably when I moved the notebook from my lap to my desk. It also seems to do this MORE often when unplugged than when plugged in and when unplugged suddenly. i
Sometimes, though, it just goes out.
I THINK (emphasis on how tenuous my guess is) that it is related to the battery/power/some connection between the two, but I am not sure.
WHAT’S BEEN TRIED
Dell checked my power management settings—the problem persists even when everything is set to “never”.
They also updated my BIOS and cleaned a lot of junk files off using CC cleaner (history, temp files etc.)
But the problem persists.
WHAT I NEED
I need to know what the problem is well enough to either a. fix it (if it’s a software thing) or b. explain it to Dell (if it’s a hardware thing) I have a good warrantee but they can’t do much for me now bc as far as it concerns them it is probably user-error. Twice they’ve had me sit on the line for 5 minutes to see if ‘it happens again’ and when it doesn’t they conclude the help session, only for the problem to recur 20 minutes later. The cycle is…unpleasant.
It’s also frustrating because I’ve had good success with Dell Tech Support (despite its reputation) up to this point.
Thanks for listening—I’m open to suggestions! I’ll probably also try my University Tech Services center.
p.s. if this needs to be moved to a more appropriate forum I apologize. I know so little about what the problem is that I don’t even know where to ask my question!
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